Essie Woods and her sisters, one older and one younger, all enlisted in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps in 1943, but Essie was turned away for being underweight. After a month of reverse dieting, she passed the test, though she had missed out on training with her siblings. She got a chance to serve overseas in the waning days of the war, working at a postal unit that followed the troops from England into liberated France. Along the way, she endured primitive living conditions, saw first-hand the devastation of the war in France, and made many lifelong friends.